BALLARI: Postnatal mothers and newborns struggled all through Thursday night without air and light at the Tekkalakote Government Community Health Centre in Siruguppa taluk of Ballari district due to power failure in the newborn and postnatal ward.
Postnatal mothers and newborn babies were forced to spend the whole night with the help of mobile phone torches, and without air. Unable to bear mosquito menace, female relatives of patients fanned with the pallu of their sarees. On witnessing the crying of newborns without air, those in the hospital cursed the officials.
Even mosquito repellent mesh has not been installed for the windows. Every time power fails, the same situation prevails in the hospital. “If this situation exists, how do we come to this government hospital? Who will be responsible if something happens here”, relatives of patients expressed outrage.
Reacting to the issue, district health officer Dr Alakananda Malagi said that she will get a report and take action. “There are seven inverters at the health centre and a generator. In the postnatal ward, the inverter was switched off and nobody knows how. The inverter was not charged and when the power supply was cut, there was no power supply. We will monitor the inverters and generator regularly”.
